London, Feb 16, IRNA,The UK government has expressed its sorrow and admitted failure in supplying basic equipment to troops sent to Helmand province in southern Afghanistan after an inquest accused the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of betraying the trust of soldiers.
Defence Minister, Bob Ainsworth, acknowledged there was a delay in the provision of night goggles, saying that it was always difficult to get supplies to frontline troops in complicated circumstances.
“This is not the first time delays in the supply chain have caused casualties in theater. I cannot promise that it will be the last,” Ainsworth said.
On Friday, assistant coroner Andrew Walker castigated the MoD at the inquest into the death of Captain James Philippson, who was killed in June 2006 during a gunbattle with the Taliban in which British troops were described as “totally outgunned”.
The inquest also revealed that an army board of inquiry into the death concluded that UK soldiers first deployed in Helmand were ill-prepared, badly-led, under-manned, and lacked “mission essential” equipment because of “political machinations” by ministers.
In response to the findings, the MoD said it was “deeply regrettable that a failure to follow the correct staff procedures between a requesting unit and Headquarters Helmand Task Force resulted in a 25-day delay in providing night-vision goggles.” The assistant coroner concluded that Philippson was unlawfully killed, saying that British troops were “defeated not by the terrorists but by the lack of basic equipment.”
“To send soldiers into a combat zone without basic equipment is unforgivable, inexcusable, and a breach of trust between the soldiers and those who govern them,” he said in a damning narrative verdict.
After the inquest, the dead soldier’s father, Anthony Philippson, said it was not just the MoD responsible. “It goes much deeper than that. The Treasury and the then chancellor, Gordon Brown, will be really to blame for what happened,” he said.
The board of inquiry report confirmed that the Treasury were “unwilling to commit funds to urgent operational requirements enhancements prior to any formal political announcement.”
A separate inquest Friday into last August’s deaths Lance Sergeant Chris Casey and Lance Corporal Kirk Redpath in Iraq demanded a review of military spending after hearing the two soldiers were denied armoured vehicles they were already in use on another mission.
“It is my belief that it is imperative that our forces, whether they be in Iraq or Afghanistan, are given the best available equipment,” the coroner said after also issuing verdicts that the two soldiers were unlawfully killed.